DEEPFAKE:...Antsy For-Hire Blogger Rips Into Republican Mayra Flores...Rare Mexican-On-Mexican Grime...Who Is Paying Him?...He Won't Say...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas |...You have a candidate for office, you have his or her backers, you have social media either pushing or damning that campaign. Then you have opposition paying for the soiling of this or that candidate.

That last one, that last one.

That's the one that currently has Brownsville Blogger Juan Montoya by the short hairs. He's hellbent on derailing the settled-in campaign of 34th Congressional District Republican candidate Mayra Flores - the 37-year-old naturalized citizen about to give incumbent Democrat Vicente Gonzalez a run for his money.

Well, word in the streets has it some of that Gonzalez cash may be behind the silly attacks on Miss Flores over at Montoya's "For Hire" blog here in under-achieving Brownsville. Welcome to shameless paid-for journalism, last refuge of the lame, smalltown reporter.

The McAllen Sun is no die-hard fan of Mayra Flores, although we do enjoy seeing her shepherd lazy-ass South Texas Democrats up their sheltered treehouse for a quick and needed sip of Mylanta. There is no fame or gain if all you do is the same dumb thing over and over again. The poor Rio Grande Valley is at the bottom of the political league standings for a reason - It plays the game at a wildly-low level. Even the language is "border."

Montoya, shown in file photo at left, in his late-60s and looking it more and more, has some real journalism experience, mostly, however, at The Brownsville Herald - an entry-level, first-job newspaper for college grads.

Lately, again, Juan has been on a tear to destroy Mayra Flores way before the district's voters get their shot. Well, even before the Republican electorate in her party's primary. That's some head start, Monty. Man, you must've been a hellcat writing for The Heraldo. It's true: a cub reporter earns his stripes in the hometown barrio, a valley reporter, we mean. Montoya has done that. He is even known in some tough local cantinas, a tiny house wren feather in his hat but a feather, nonetheless.

And we're largely okay with what he's doing as a proud Democrat, but our recollection of that ethics class in Journalism School tells us Juan Montoya should level-up with those few vatos and chucas reading his free blog by adding a disclaimer to his stories as to who is paying him to diss Mayra.

Is it Congressman Vicente Gonzalez?

Okay. Just say it. We are told Gonzalez paid local bloggers for their help in the last election. Nothing wrong with that; he's interested in keeping his cushy job in Washington, D.C.

The hands-out Montoya does nothing without getting his few pennies for typing. He even shills for Republicans every now and then, as he did for Cameron County sheriff candidate John Chambers in the 2020 election. We're not getting into that here, but he also charges off the couch to assail incumbent Sheriff Eric Garza, and perhaps that odd positioning has something to do with Sheriff Garza not paying Juan. Quien sobby, yes.

So, we'll stay on this for the next few weeks, keeping an eye out on the entertaining Mayra Flores journey to the mountaintop.

She's a fighter, a feisty Mexican woman fighting, and we're all for that. Montoya, who forever goes pro-Mexicans on his blog, has it in for Miss Flores. Perhaps it' because she is an attractive woman and some less-than-Jeff Bezos vatos have a problem with attractive Mexican gals. That, we're told, is what inspired the sleeveless "wife beater" men's undershirt, popular here in the poverty-stricken Rio Grande Valley.

Let Mayra run. Let her lie. Let her be the loose cannon. Let her rise & fall. Let her posture herself as this and that. Let her smile and laugh. Let her win and fail. She's a candidate.

Voters will decide her fate, the law if she breaks it.

Breathless blogging won't make a bit of difference...

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